Yemen’s dancing revolution

Share This Article

Last week, the Telegraph ran this great video of protesters in Yemen dancing, which reminded me of Emma Goldman’s famous quote: “If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.”

One thing that’s painfully clear in watching this video, however, is the complete absence of women.

The protests have continued this week, as has the crackdown by government security forces. There was a report on NPR yesterday that cited activists who claimed at least 30 protesters were killed over the previous night.

Nevertheless, the protests continued yesterday. As the video below shows, despite hugging and kissing soldiers at a demonstration in Sanaa, the troops still opened fire, killing at least one person and injuring eight others.

Help Us Spread The Word!

Share This Article

Eric Stoner is a co-founding editor at Waging Nonviolence and an adjunct professor at Rutgers University. His articles have appeared in The Guardian, Mother Jones, Salon, The Nation, Sojourners and In These Times. Contact him securely through encrypted email by using his PGP public key or Fingerprint: F1EF 4ABE F5FD 5A86 43C7 28E9 C227 68A0 C356 5760

Related

4 comments

Regarding the absence of women, this is definitely to be expected in Arab culture. (I can’t help but recall my first all-male Arab dance party on an overnight ship between Genoa and Tunis. A blast.) Yemen is particularly conservative. Even wedding parties are sex-segregated; the men dance with men and women dance with women. Dancing in public like this just isn’t something one would do with the opposite sex, as we would expect in the US.

Thanks for explaining this Nathan. I knew that was true to some degree, but I felt like I couldn’t use Goldman’s quote without pointing out that she probably wouldn’t be welcome at this protest in particular. That of course doesn’t mean that I don’t support the protesters in Yemen or think that they are struggling for a just cause.

Oh, no, I wouldn’t accuse you of not supporting them! We just need to remember that what’s a political statement in one place isn’t one in another, and vis versa. Men in Yemen can hold hands in public without thereby exhibiting their homosexuality, for instance, just as men and women can dance together in our culture without being indecent. In this case I think we can agree that what’s really “painfully clear” is the violent repression! The absence of women is kind of a separate issue.

I knew this when I made the comment. I find it ironic,that the men want freedom from an oppressive govt,yet women are kept as an underclass,at home,covered,not even permitted to drive,much less protest or Allah forgive-dance!
Peace,love and freedom for all<3

Get Involved

If you have an interest in promoting stories of nonviolence, building this community and correcting the mainstream media’s misrepresentation of nonviolent action, please consider donating to Waging Nonviolence.